Road & Track magazine just published an article about the Datsunworks KN20 cylinder head! You can view it HERE. It is a great read with interviews from founder Datsunworks founder Derek Minetti and Z Car Garage owner Rob Fuller:

 

The article provides origins of KN20 as we as technical information. Z Car Garage is excited to collaborate with Datsunworks as we build and test more KN20-powered Z cars. To see and hear the KN20 in action visit our previous post HERE

 

  

 

The ZONC Annual Car Show will be held Sunday September 12 in Brisbane, CA. This a fun event in a great location so bring out your Z, G, Datsun or GT-R! Pictures from previous shows can be seen HERE with more details below. Z you at the show!

 

  

 

 

We had a blast at the 34th Annual Z Car Convention (ZCON) hosted by ZCCA in Colorado Springs. This is the largest Z-car event in the US and we were stoked to be a sponsor. Coming from the 8/17 New 2023 Z Reveal in New York, Rob and Meghan attended the the 8/21 People’s Choice Show at ZCON. Enjoy photos these from the event!

  

Congratulations to our client Bob Russell on his 1st place award for Stock 240Z! We will have a full report on Bill’s S30 on zcarblog.com soon

 

Both of our clients Jack and Linda made it to ZCON with their recently finished Z’s and had a great time:

 

Jack won 3rd place for Ultra-Modified Z32 with his LS3-swapped, Primadonna Z:

 

The largest Z show!

 

ZCON was a Z car lover’s fantasy… with every generation represented. There were even non-Z cars welcomed!

S30

 

S130

  

Mike Rogers 12-mile 1980 ZX. Here is a great video and walk through on this time capsule!

 

Z31

 

 

Z32

 

350z

 

370z

Nissan/Datsun Gems

ZCON welcomed all members of the family and there were some great cars on display:

 

Roadster, 620 and S13

 

Best of the 90’s!

 

Midnight Purple R33, Z32 and R32 all at gas station just outside of ZCON!

 

People

The legendary Pete Brock, Hiroshi Tamura and Larry Chen were just a few of the big names at ZCON:

 

Christopher Karl and Mark Lambert both received Lifetime Achievement Awards, congrats gentlemen!

Thank You!

ZCON was a success. Big thanks to Christopher Karl of ZCCA for an incredible week of friends and Z cars. Z you next year!

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We have several exciting projects at the shop that will get full reports on zcarblog.com but today we want to highlight a few cars that we prepared for next week’s ZCON event. Please tune into our Instagram story for more sights and sounds as we have Z32, R35, S30, 370z, 350z, S130 and yes, even some Z31 updates heading your way!

 

ZCON Here We Come!

 

Z Car Garage is proud to be a sponsor for the 34th Annual Z Car Convention (ZCON) hosted by ZCCA in Colorado Springs 8/16-20. This is the largest Z-car event in the US and we are stoked to participate. Here are three client cars destined for ZCON, enjoy!

The OMS Pace Car

 

This is a 1972 Official OMS Pace Car Duplicate. It is at present one of only two known survivors . Fifty were originally produced by Nissan Motors to commemorate the DATSUN 240Z being selected by the Ontario Motor Speedway to Pace the 1972 “U.S.A.C. California 500 Championship”.  It really is a small Datsun world, as the official OMS pace car is none other than our very own Joel Anderson #49 IMSA GTU 240Z .

 

This OMS duplicate belongs to our long time customer and friend Linda. She acquired it from a family in SoCal and tasked ZCG with making it a nice driver. Full report soon but it got loaded up today for its journey to Colorado!

 

Jack’s LS3-Powered Z32

 

Jack and Yolanda have been a part of our lives since the beginning of ZCG. Being long time members of The Z Owners of Northern California (ZONC) and supporting our shop along the way, we are grateful to them. ZCG will be restoring the Primadonna Z back to its former glory this year! We are also helping the couple finish their LS3 V8 engine swap into their “Primadonna” Z32 Convertible. Yes, Jack had to get back in the game after building those 240z cars so he built a Z32 body kit from scratch. Like the S30’s he built, this widebody Z32 has evolved over time:

   

ZCG finished the LS3 swap and dialed it in with road-testing and dyno tuning.

 

It even sports full A/C and OEM shifter for the automatic transmission. The Z was loaded up with the OMS pace car today and heading to ZCON, full report soon!

 

 

Mike’s Datsun 240Z #193

 

Mike’s vin # 193 Series-1 S30 was ZCON bound but needed further work to be truly show-worthy. We love that he’s on board with us to finish the car correctly. It’s a beauty and it will be sensational.

 

Z You There!

This will be an eventful week for us. ZCG will be attending the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion this weekend, then it’s on to New York for the Global Reveal of the New Z and finally we will be in Colorado on Friday for ZCON! We are stoked to see the cars, faces and meet new people. Watch our IG/FB and twitter for updates!

 

More Projects

 

Jas D’s red 300ZX (above) and one of many Z32s we are working on, Steve’s (below) will get a full report soon as well as the Stillen SMZ:

 

Randy’s 1970 Safari Tribute Z returned from its trip to Los Angeles to be filmed for Nissan’s commercials! We installed a new engine and made some suspension changes, full report soon!

   Watch for Randy’s Z running through the desert!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Kigk38DCFs

David’s 240Z

Long-time friend and client David attended a track day at Laguna Seca. This Z was built over 15 years ago and sill running strong. We prepped his Z for the track, full report soon!

 

Dyno Tuning your 350z/370z/Q/G

We have been dyno tuning your late model Nissan/Infiniti sports car daily. Bolt-ons, UPREV tuning. Our customers leave happy with more performance. Call us to schedule an appointment! Here are just a few cars:

 

Aaron’s Q50:

   

LONG LIVE THE Z! Check out our Instagram story for more updates!

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Z Car Garage is excited to collaborate with Datsunworks and develop their brilliant KN20 dual-overhead cam (DOHC) cylinder head designed for the Nissan inline-6 L-Series engine.

 

Datsunworks founder Derek Minetti is the pioneer behind the KN20 DOHC cylinder head. This is a custom (very limited production), 6-cylinder head derived from Honda’s venerable K-series 4-cylinder engine. The KN20 offers superior head flow rates combined with modern valvetrain components to effectively transform your L-series single-overhead cam into a high-revving, dual-overhead cam engine. The power potential is impressive.

Gary’s Datsun 240Z

 

There are ten KN20 heads in the wild with only three installed and currently running in cars. Z Car Garage has two KN20 cylinder heads. This KN20 is serial #SN10 and it has been installed into our long-time client Gary’s Datsun 240Z, affectionately named the “Behemoth”. ZCG is always exploring the boundaries of powertrains and Gary’s Z has seen a few engines including an RB30DET, OS Giken TC24 and now the Datsunworks.

 

Here are few details on the powertrain setup for this Z:

-Rebello 3.1L Engine

-KN20 Cylinder head SN10 (but the performance level goes to 11)

-Induction type: Jenvey ITB EFI with Injector Dynamics injectors

-Engine management: Haltech Elite 750

-Header: Equal-length, custom fabricated by RacecraftNW

-Transmission: Nissan CD009a

-Rear Diff: R180 4.11 OS Giken LSD

 

Pictures of the initial engine installation, with more in the gallery:

 

For further information on the KN20 cylinder head we urge you to visit the Datsunworks blog:
Datsunworks Blog

Performance

 

We are still in the tuning phase so Gary’s car is on a comfortable (conservative) setting. With the Datsunworks head it made 350hp/248tq at the wheels on 91 octane:

 

Even in a testing stage it is absolutely thrilling to drive. Gary’s car is a full ZCG-style restoration so it has the chassis to harness the power. The sound it makes is a sonorous tone only the K-series derived KN20 head creates…with a gnarly exhaust note to match. The ITB induction also provides a healthy wail…it’s a sensory overload and revs seem to climb endlessly.

 

To illustrate the Datsunworks experience we captured some video of what it is like to drive around town…the 6-speed and EFI really allow this car to be docile, especially when cruising on the freeway and at part throttle. Drop a gear and its becomes a wild animal. Not going to lie…it gave me goosebumps both as a passenger and spectator.

Watch the video complete with multiple dyno passes, street acceleration and fly-bys. VOLUME UP!

 

 

Potential

 

Z Car Garage is stoked to be a part of the Datsunworks KN20 development. It is a clever design that pushes the envelope for L-Series engines. Sharing this experience is also part of the fun so we anticipate having a KN20 setup in a dedicated shop 240Z for clients to test drive and further evaluate. Although each application is different, we envision offering a bolt-in setup for your six-cylinder L-Series engine. The power potential is tremendous with the KN20…both NA and forced induction. We thank Derek at Datsunworks for giving us the opportunity to work with this innovative product.

 

Stay tune for more updates and LONG LIVE THE (TWIN CAM) Z!

 

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